Sidney Shemanski

October 20, 2022

Anthropology of Tribal Cultures

The Kurdish People

The Kurds are one of the world’s largest groups without a state and today reside in

regions of Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. This loosely defined graphical land that they occupy is

known as Kurdistan, for “Land of the Kurds,”(The Kurdish Project). The Kurds are an Iranian

ethic group mostly made up of Sunni Muslims who have had to deal with cultural and political

repression.(The Kurdish Project). In Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, there has been forced

assimilation forbidding the Kurds to speak their Kurdish language in public. They have also been

forced to change their children’s names to local ethnic names if they wanted to send their

children to school or if they wanted a job. Not only that but they had to hide their books, music,

and clothing because if authorities saw them or searched their house, they would be imprisoned

(The Kurdish Project) Kurdish regions have been economically neglected, resulting in

entrenched poverty from forcing evictions and destruction of homes. (amnesty.org).

This ethnic group, making up about 30 million people, are known for their strong unity

because of being forced to relocate after World War 1 (1914-1918). The Kurds had to abandon

their traditional ways which forced them to be a nomadic tribe. Following World War 1, the

Treaty of Sevres was signed, dissolving the Ottoman Empire and proposing the formation of an

autonomous Kurdish state. “However, Turkey’s new leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, rejects the

Treaty. This treaty is then replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne, omitting any reference to a

Kurdish homeland” (Ariav). From the end of World War 1 to the Gulf War in 1990, the Kurds in

Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria fought for their autonomy however they suffered greater repression
each time. (The Kurdish Project) After the Gulf War, the Iraqi Kurds finally had autonomy and

the Iraqi Kurdistan Front established the Kurdistan Regional Government known as the KRG.

(The Kurdish Project) The KRG had their own parliament, military, borders and foreign policy.

One thing the Kurds always struggled with was the lack of support from a superpower. This has

heavily prevented them from their autonomy. For example, “Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan

had the Soviet Union while Israel had Great Britain and the US,” (The Kurdish Project).

Syria has been at war for 7 years becuase of President Assad having the objective to stay

in power and the will do anything to achieve it such as bombing and using chemical weapons.

(You Tube) Soon after the start of this war, Kurdish forces took control of Rojava in Syria

fighting for autonomy and against IS (Islamic State). (You Tube) With the rise of IS and the

actions of Assad, the United States got involved with the Syrian Democratic Forces, mostly

made up of Kurdish fighters called the YPG and YPJ, making the Kurds and US allies. Due to

ISIS attacking Kurdish cities in Syria and Iraq, the Peshmerga was founded to defend and retake

the cities however they lack the resources to properly fight against ISIS. (You Tube) That is

where the US comes in by providing military support and training and even providing air strikes

to destroy ISIS, with the main reason being: the US hates ISIS. (The Kurdish Project)

In 2019, Trump withdrew nearly two thousand troops from northern Syria which caused a

lot of chaos because we left allies in Kurdistan to fend for themselves. However, while the US

was in Syria, the US was very helpful towards the Kurds in the North in Rojava. To Turkey,

these “forces” were viewed as terrorists which is why they invaded Syria with the aim to push

Kurdish forces out, making the US withdrawal. (Reporter) The Kurds then had no choice but to

ally with Assad to avoid being overtaken by Turkey. Mike Esper, the 23rd secretary of the Army,

said, “ We did not sign up to fight Turkey, a longstanding Nato ally, on behalf of the Kurdish-led
Syrian Democratic Forces. This is a terrible situation,”(Reporter). In 2020, the United Nations

released horrifying information that Turkey committed war crimes in Northern Syria such as

murder, torture, and arbitrary detention, forcing the Kurds to flee their home (Ariav). Just

recently in 2022, the Turkish president threatened a military incursion into northeast Syria

targeting cities under the Syrian Democratic Forces which is a United States-backed Kurdish-led

armed group. (hrw) This was mainly because Turkey viewed the YPG as an extension of the

PKK, leading Turkey to send troops into Syria to battle the Islamic state group. (APNews)

With the Turkish forces invading northeastern Syria, Rojava, it is important to know

more about the area, Rojava. It is known as the largest ethnic minority (2 million people) in Syria

and is broken into three cantons: Afrini Canton, Kobane Canton, and Cizre Canton (The Kurdish

Project). “The largest political group in the Kurdish regions of Syria is known as the Democratic

Union Party (PYD) and the second largest being the Kurdish National Council (KNC),” (The

Kurdish Project). “The KNC is an alliance of around 15 Kurdish political parties pushing for

Kurdish autonomy in Syria,” (The Kurdish Project). The PYD was founded in 2003 and is the

primary fighting force against the Syrian government and Islamic State. The PYD’s military

wing then contains the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Women’s Protection Units

(YPJ).

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party not only fought for their autonomy, but also along

non-kurdish soldiers from the area including Syrian, Americans, and Europeans due to some of

them volunteering to join YPG to fight against ISIS. (The Kurdish Project) “The YPG is a

democratic socialist organization in which Officers are elected by troops and equality regardless

of gender, religion, and equity,” (The Kurdish Project) They most commonly use guerrilla force,

using surprise hit and run tactics which has proven to be very effective against forces who try to
invade them. (The Kurdish Project). Like mentioned above, the Peshmerga was formed to help

fight off attacks and invasion. The Peshmerga and the YPG joined forces specifically in the

battle for Kobane. Kobane has been a battleground since 2014 when Islamic State fighters took

over the small Syrian town, forcing all of the Kurdish people to flee into Turkey. (bbc news)

This is when the US came in and sent air strikes against the Islamic State targets in Kobane and

after a full year of the Kurds fighting the IS, they were able to almost entirely regain control

however the fight will most likely never be over. (bbc news). With all of the discrimination still

going on today, Amnesty International has gotten involved and raised concerns and detailed

cases in a report to draw attention to the ongoing repressions of the Kurds. “Amnesty

International is a global movement of more than 10 million people in over 150 countries and

territories who campaign to end abuses of human rights,”(amnesty.org). In the report it

specifically states that Iranian authorities should, “take effective measures ensure that Kurds and

all other members of minority communities in Iran- men, women and children alike- enjoy their

full range of human rights; amend of abolish all legislation adn practices that discrimiate against

minority communities, including the discriminatory gozinesh criteria governing employment and

public office; promote and protect the rights of human rights defenders,”(amnesty.org). In

addition to Amnesty International bringing attention to the Kurds, the Kurdish project was also

founded for this reason.

The Kurdish project is a nonprofit digital agency used to be a cultural-education initiative

to raise awareness to this tragedy. With how involved the United States is with the Kurdish

people, I am very surprised I have never heard about this cultural assimilation prior. It's a shame

what these innocent people are going through and I am very glad the Kurdish project exists to

bring more awareness to this issue.

 Resources
Our Mission. (2019, March 20). The Kurdish Project. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from
https://thekurdishproject.org/our-mission/

Ariav, H. (2019, October 8). The Kurds’ Quest for Independence. Council on Foreign Relations.
Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.cfr.org/timeline/kurds-quest-
independence

A look at the Kurds, a stateless nation in a restive region. (2017, September 25). AP
NEWS. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from
https://apnews.com/article/a5f111ce84bd4e41a27f0ff2289efa1c

Blakemore, E. (2021, May 3). Today, the Kurds are spread across four nations. Who are
they?Culture. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/who-are-kurds

Reporter, G. S. (2021, August 31). Trump orders US troops out of northern Syria as Turkish
assault continues. The Guardian. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/13/trump-us-troops-northern-syria-turkish-
assault-kurds
Questions and Answers: Turkey’s Threatened Incursion into Northern Syria. (2022, August 19).
Human Rights Watch. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/17/questions-and-answers-turkeys-threatened-
incursion-northern-syria

BBC News. (2015, June 25). Battle for Kobane: Key events. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29688108

IRAN: Human Rights Abuses Against the Kurdish Minority. (2008). Amnesty International.
Retrieved October 18, 2022, from
 https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MDE130882008ENGLISH.pdf

BBC News. (2018, March 9). Syria: Seven years of war explained - BBC News. YouTube.
Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoL0L_DbuQQ